The Morning Before
"Happy birthday tooo yooouuu!"
The table applauded and Sirius emotionally wiped a fake tear from his eye. The Seventh Year Gryffindors (the Marauders, along with Lily and her three roommates: Marlene McKinnon, Harley Pensky, and Zoe Simmons) had prepared a breakfast surprise that morning. They had convinced the House Elves to make a three-tiered chocolate cake with strawberry frosting. The Marauders took a trip down to Hogsmeade and bought decorations. All the while the girls worked overnight to make Sirius a golden plastic crown that wouldn't come off his head for twelve hours (a fact that he was not made aware of until after he placed it on his head.)
"Thank you, thank you," Sirius said once everyone at the table had stopped singing.
"Don't get too touched, I only sang so I could get a slice of the cake."
"Bite me, Potter."
"Play nicely, boys," Lily interrupted as James opened his mouth to give a reply. "And cut the cake already, we're starving over here."
"Aye, captain."
"No sass, Potter, or you'll be thrown overboard."
He smiled at her and she grinned back. She almost didn't notice that Zoe was speaking now.
"So what are we doing tonight, Sirius?" her black-haired friend asked, taking a large bite of her slice of cake.
"Throwing a wild, drunken Common Room party."
"We have classes tomorrow," Lily pointed out.
"I see no relevant problem."
"We can't have alcohol."
"Li-ly-"
"No."
"Fine."
"Thank you."
"Then the party will be moved to Friday night!" He exclaimed dramatically, raising his fork in defiance.
"Sirius!"
"Kidding!" he said quickly, raising his palms innocently in response to Lily's stern gaze.
"But there will be a party," James assured the table.
"More or less than the average Post-Quidditch Match Victory party?" Marlene asked.
"More."
"But less than The Christmas Party of '76?" Harley spoke up with a wicked grin that always seemed to accompany mentioning of that particular event.
"Yes," Lily cut in before James could answer.
"Think Fabian-Prewett's-Last-Day-Of-Exams-Slash-Summer-Bash," James clarified.
"Ahh, all right."
"That was a good party."
"Good. We're agreed?" The table nodded in consent.
"Why isn't the party tomorrow, though?" Marlene asked. "We would be able to stay up a lot later than if we did it tonight."
There was an awkward pause as the Marauders looked at each other, but Remus spoke up.
"My mum's ill again. I'm going back home tomorrow, right after classes."
"And we can't have a party without Moony!" Sirius said, swinging his arm around Remus' shoulders.
The girls laughed and the subject was officially dropped.
James looked at Remus and they both nodded, then in unison all four Marauders stood up and wiped their chocolatey mouths with napkins. "I'm sorry, ladies, but we'll have to bid you adieu. We need to get some supplies," James explained.
"Where are you going?" Lily asked suspiciously.
"Nip off to Hogsmeade for a couple of hours. We'll be back by lunch."
"Don't pick up strippers," Harley said.
"Can you get strippers in Hogsmeade?" Sirius asked, brow furrowed in curiosity.
"If you know where to look."
The Marauders chuckled before making their exit. Marlene waited until the tip of Sirius's gold crown finally left the Great Hall before speaking.
"Why don't we meet up in the dorm after dinner to wrap the presents? It's right before the party, so we can get ready then too."
"I'm seeing Liam then," Lily said, thinking of her boyfriend's somewhat odd request from yesterday.
"You'll have just spent Ancient Runes with him," Harley said exasperatedly.
"We're not going out. He just said he wanted to talk to me," she explained. Thinking on it, why did Liam want to see her? If it mattered so much, she could just sit with him during dinner. But he'd been acting a little weird all week. Kind of… distant.
What if he…
No! She couldn't just make assumptions like that.
"We can start without you, it's fine," Zoe said, cutting off Lily's thoughts. "Say hello to the boyfriend for us."
They were, of course, talking about Liam O'Haire, basically the sweetest, smartest and most attractive man in the entire school (well, a couple Gryffindors could give him a run for his money). Lily's boyfriend. Lily and Liam, together for nine months on Tuesday. They were fine. Just fine.
The Morning After, Post Consciousness
Lily was about to scream. Or cry. Or maybe laugh. She had a weird urge to laugh, but now was so not the time.
All right, all right. Evaluate the situation.
She was in bed with James Potter.
James Potter.
James.
Potter.
Her very recent, completely platonic, friend. Past behind them, new beginning, the Head Boy to her Head Girl.
And she was in her underwear.
Oh Merlin.
What she really wanted right now was to get out of this situation.
And to get some medicine for her head, because Merlin, it was pounding.
Maybe she could just get down to the Hospital Wing. She knew people could get her a good potion.
Yes.
Plan.
Good.
Now, just to get out of bed-
Oh.
Right.
Not wearing anything but bra and panties. A quick wiggle and she learned that James seemed to only be wearing boxers.
Fuck.
Okay, she still needed to untangle herself (quite literally) from this one as well.
Breathe.
Just breathe- is James starting to wake up?
Lily stiffened. James mumbled a little bit and drew his arms closer, bringing Lily closer as well, nuzzling in close to her neck, still fast asleep. Lily felt warmer and realized she was blushing.
Blushing.
Because James was hugging her.
And was - um - not wearing much clothing.
But she wasn't even thinking about that!
Much.
Maybe she could just slip out and he wouldn't even wake up. Yes, that sounded like a plan to her. Good. Good plan. Plans are nice.
Now, to just slip the covers off - good. Yes.
Covers are off.
She still needed clothes
Shit.
Clothes.
Where are her clothes?
Just by looking around from the bed, her clothes were nowhere to be found. but she spotted a bright purple boa on the ground near her.
Shit.
Robes!
There was a robe hanging off the end of Sirius's bed.
Clothing target acquired.
She was still in James' arms.
Shit.
All right, moment of truth.
Lily took a deep (quiet) breath and gently raised James's arm. If she moved fast enough she could just slip out and he would never know!
Her heart pounding so loudly she was afraid it would wake him, Lily rolled out and dropped his arm, now facing James.
Yes! Now all she had to do was slowly back out-
"Whoozat?" James mumbled, his eyes flickering open and looking tiredly at her.
Shit.
Maybe she could still get out of this! He was still hungover! This could all be a dream! Maybe-
"Fuck, Lily?"
Damn.
"WHAT - WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
"WHAT DID YOU DO, POTTER?"
They both sprang off the bed, Lily dragging the sheet to cover her body and James taking his pillow.
"WHAT DID I DO? WHAT DID YOU DO?"
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?"
"I WOKE UP HERE!"
"SHIT, ARE YOU NAKED?"
"NO, POTTER, FOR YOUR INFORMATION I AM NOT. MERLIN."
"WHY ARE YOU HERE?"
"I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T REMEMBER ANYTHING!"
"WELL, NEITHER DO I!"
"FINE."
"GOOD."
…
"NO. WAIT. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
"Stop shouting!" Lily shouted, placing a hand against her painfully throbbing forehead.
"Oh, I'm sorry," James replied angrily. "I just woke up to find you in my bed. NAKED!"
"I'M NOT NAKED! I bet you know exactly how we ended up like this!"
"What?"
"Yeah, it was just another prank by you four!"
James rolled his eyes and glared at her, not dignifying the accusation with a response. Lilly mirrored his face and wrapped her blanket more securely around herself. They fell silent for a few more moments before James spoke up again.
"So - er - what are you doing here, again?"
"How many times are you going to ask me that before it gets into your thick scull, I – don't – bloody – know," she replied testily.
"Right. Yeah," he said awkwardly.
"You don't remember anything?" Lily asked.
"Nope. You?"
"Not much. It was Sirius's birthday."
"We had the party."
"I remember that. I know we had the party, but I don't remember much of anything about it."
"Neither do I."
The fell silent and looked at each other.
Lily cleared her throat, and decided it was a nice time to make her exit.
"I'm - uh - going to leave now."
"Good."
"And I'll be taking this with me," she said, lunging to drag Sirius's robes off his bed.
"Great."
"Well," Lily said.
"Bye."
"Yes."
"Great."
"Good."
"Fine."
"See you."
"Likewise."
After one more extremely awkward moment Lily dropped the sheet and quickly wrapped the robe around herself before sprinting out of the room, through the deserted Common Room, and up the Girl's staircase. She reached her own dormitory and fumbled with the door for a moment before finally reaching safety and slamming the door behind her.
Then she noticed Marlene standing in front of her own bed, running her hands through her blonde hair and shaking twigs and leaves to the floor. She whipped around at the sound of the door.
"Lily?" she asked, surprised. "What's wrong?"
Lily sighed. "You are not going to believe me."
AN: Thank you to everyone who read/favorited~ ^_^ Chapter two will be up tomorrow!
Beta'd by Stefanie at Bigger and Beta on tumblr!